Ayala was facing 24 years in state prison if he'd been convicted of the charges against him, which included felony rape by use of drugs, rape of a person unable to resist due to unconsciousness of the act, sodomy by anesthesia or controlled substance, and oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance.

The woman had reported she'd been raped to the hospital, which contacted the Orange Police Department, which conducted the investigation and made the arrest.

UPDATE, MARCH 18, 11:16 A.M.: It was not the prosecution showing the alleged rape victim was mentally unstable, legally drunk and on pot that undid their case against former St. Joseph's emergency room technician Francisco Ayala Jr.

It was the defense claiming the accuser used the rape allegation to sue the Santa Ana Police Department, which she believed had unjustly taken her children away from her.

The responding cop being caught in a lie on the stand did not help either.